GAME 16 - April 17: Peeeeeeyooooo!

Philadelphia 10, Houston 2

Word for the Day: Stinker: Something of very low standard or quality.

Yup, it was a stinker all right. Houston pitchers gave up 10 runs, including 4 homers. Backe had his first really bad start, and Villareal and Valverde just did their usual. Blum made 2 errors - only one less than the whole team had coming into this game. Astros' batters forgot how to score, aside from solo home runs by Tejada and Lee.

While the Houston sportswriters are jumping all over the team, bemoaning impending gloom and doom, I'm going to just consider this game to be an anomaly. Backe is not going to pitch a gem every time he takes the mound, but he could very well have a really good year. Blum probably won't flub in the field in every game. Well, it may not be an anomaly for V & V, who are pretty consistently pitching poorly. But as for the rest, sometimes teams have a bad day, or a bad series - or even a bad start to the season (remember the 2005 Astros?).

There's still stuff to like. Today it was Bourn's 9th steal.

Since I will miss the next 4 games for Passover observance, I had gone into this game hoping for a big double-digit blowout. That's what it turned out to be - but for the wrong team. Unfortunately, I won't even be able to see the outcome of the next 4 games until Monday night, due to religious observance and a canceled subscription to the Washington Post. Let's hope for a really nice surprise, as the Astros go back to Houston for series against the Rockies and Padres.